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J&K: Army jawan, SPO killed in Awantipora encounter

IED expert among 2 terrorists to flee from encounter site in Kashmir's Pulwama
(File/Representational)

Mubashir Bukhari

Srinagar (NVI): An Army soldier and a Special Police Officer (SPO) of Jammu and Kashmir Police lost their lives in an encounter with militants that broke out at Khrew area of Awantipora on today.

According to the police, security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Khrew area of Awantipora following information about the presence of militants in the area. The hiding militants fired upon forces leading to the encounter.

According to reports, one SPO and one soldier got killed. The slain SPO has been identified as Shabaaz Ahmad of Rajouri. The deceased Army man has been identified as Rahul.

The Army jawan and the SPO had suffered injuries during the encounter but they later they succumbed to their injuries, they said.

Yesterday, three Hizbul militants were gunned down in Shopian district of South Kashmir in a gunfight with the Army.

PM Modi to chair PRAGATI meeting

surge in Covid cases

New Delhi (NVI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair his 32nd interaction through PRAGATI- the information and communications technology-based, multi-modal platform for pro-active governance and timely implementation tommorrow.

In the previous thirty one interactions of PRAGATI, projects worth over twelve lakh crores have been reviewed by the Prime Minister.

In the last PRAGATI meeting, nine projects worth over Rs. 61,000 crore related to 16 states and the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir were taken up for discussion.

There were also discussions on various topics like grievances of Indian citizens working abroad, national agriculture market, aspirational district programme and infrastructure development programmes and initiatives.

PRAGATI is an integrating and interactive platform, aimed at addressing the common man’s grievances.

PRAGATI also helps in simultaneously monitoring and reviewing important programmes and projects of the Government of India, as well as projects flagged by various State governments.

Zomato acquires Uber Eats business in India

Zomato acquired all stocks of Uber Eats in India. (Source: @UberEats_IND)

New Delhi (NVI): Online food delivery and restaurant discovery platform Zomato has acquired the Indian operations of Uber Eats, the food delivery business run by Uber.

The all-stock transaction will give the US-based ride-hailing company about 10% shareholding in Gurgaon-based Zomato.

While the two companies did not share the deal size, sources said it was pegged at about $300-350 million.

Following the acquisition, Uber Eats in India will cease to exist as a separate brand. It will discontinue operations and direct restaurants, delivery partners, and users of the Uber Eats apps to the Zomato platform, effective from Tuesday.

Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber, said, “Our Uber Eats team in India has achieved an incredible amount over the last two years, and I couldn’t be prouder of their ingenuity and dedication.”

“India remains an exceptionally important market to Uber and we will continue to invest in growing our local rides business, which is already the clear category leader,” Khosrowshahi said.

Zomato will not absorb Uber Eats’ team in India. This means around 100 executives will either be reallocated to Uber’s other verticals here or laid off.

With the acquisition going through, the combined entity of Zomato and Uber Eats India is expected to corner more than a 50-55% market in terms of the number and value of orders, pulling it ahead of Swiggy.

Uber entered the food delivery business in 2017 when Swiggy and Zomato had already roped in major restaurants and chains in exclusive partnerships. Uber relied heavily on discounting to acquire and retain users. While it has been able to establish market leadership in some small towns and cities, the two larger food delivery companies continued to fight for market leadership.

The deal comes close on the heels of Zomato raising $150 million in funding from existing investor Ant Financial, an Alibaba affiliate, at a $3 billion valuation.

Sources said that with the sale of the food business, Uber would now focus on its rides business and expansion to tier 2 cities.

Kashmir will re-emerge as ‘heaven’ through Centre’s development initiatives

Mubashir Bukhari

Srinagar (NVI): Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi today said the “unabated” corruption during previous regimes has affected Kashmir drastically, which he said will re-emerge as “heaven” through central government initiatives.

Naqvi as a part of Central government’s outreach campaign visited Srinagar and addressed a gathering of nearly 250 people from Gujjar and Bakarwal community.

He said the main motive of their visit to Kashmir was “to bring positive and effective change in the lives of people.”

“Corruption is a disease which for many years affected Kashmir. Crores of rupees were disbursed for the Jammu and Kashmir which was not reaching to the people. Few people used these funds for their personal benefits. But now the funds are going to directly flow to you (people),” he said.

“All the hopes of people were dashed by their representatives earlier. We now want to reach out to the people and listen to their woes and solve their problems. We today came here with a positive approach and mindset.” Naqvi said.

The union minister said it has happened for the first time that entire ministry had reached out to Kashmiri people to “hear their views.”

“The initiatives will not stop here as we will continue visiting the valley. We will stay in touch with the officers also to know about the peoples grievances.”

Naqvi also said the Centre was focusing to end growing unemployment within Jammu and Kashmir, thereby “paving way for development of the union territory.”

“We are focusing on development and providing enough employment opportunities to the youth. We framed schemes like “Hunar Haq” under youth from all the areas will be covered. These schemes will give them employment along with development of the region,” he said.

“Those who apply for scholarships will get benefitted through central government’s initiatives,” the union minister added.

Naqvi informed the Centre has earmarked Rs 1600 crore under Himayat scheme for Jammu and Kashmir.

“We have already identified at least 1200 educated youth under this programme. People used to travel to faraway places for treatment and now AIIMS is coming up in Samba in Jammu and Lassipora in Kashmir. Five medical colleges are also coming up that will open 500 seats for people of the state,” he said.

The union minister said there was a bigger gap in the development of the union territory, which has been “ignored” previously.

Eight tourists from Kerala found dead at Nepal hotel

Policeman
Representational Pic.

New Delhi (NVI): Eight tourists from Kerala, including four children, have been found dead at a hotel room of a resort in Nepal’s Daman, Kathmandu Post reported today.

The tourists, who were found unconscious initially, were later declared dead at a hospital in Kathmandu, the news website reported.

According to a report by Kathmandu Post, fifteen Indian tourists had booked two rooms at the resort in Daman, which falls in Makwanpur district of Nepal.  Eight of them- four males and four females were in the same room.

Superintendent Sushil Singh Rathaur of Makwanpur police told Kathmandu Post that the tourists might have used gas heaters to warm their room which could have suffocated them to death.

After the resort staff found the tourists unconscious, they called police following which they flown to Hams hospital in Kathmandu.

The deceased have been identified as Prabin Kumar Nayar (39), Sharanya (34), Ranjit Kumar TB (39), Indu Ranjit (34), Shree Bhadra (9), Abinab Soraya (9), Abi Nayar (7), and Baishnab Ranjit (2).

Modi, Nepal PM jointly inaugurate check post at Jogbani-Biratnagar

PM Modi and Nepal PM jointly inaugurated the Jogbani-Biratnagar via video conferencing. (Source: @PMOIndia)

New Delhi (NVI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Nepalese counterpart KP Sharma Oli today jointly inaugurated Jogbani-Biratnagar, the second Integrated Check Post (ICP) along the border. The check post was inaugurated via video conferencing.

Jogbani-Biratnagar is built with Indian assistance to facilitate trade and people’s movement across India-Nepal border.

The check post is an important trade point between the two countries. The ICP is equipped with modern facilities. It is spread over 260 acres and is capable of handling 500 trucks on a daily basis.

In his remarks PM Modi said, “India has been playing the role of a trusted partner in Nepal’s all round development.”

He also said, “’Neighbourhood first‘ is the main policy of my government and improving cross border connectivity is an important aspect of it. The issue of better connectivity becomes all the more important if it concerns India- Nepal, because our relations are not simply of neighbours but we are also connected through culture, nature, families, language, development and many more threads.”

PM said that India is working on cross connectivity projects for road, rail and transmission lines in Nepal.

Both the PMs also witnessed the remarkable progress in Government of India assisted post-earthquake housing reconstruction projects in Nepal.

Referring to 2015 Earthquake in Nepal PM Modi said, “India played the role of first responder in relief and rescue operations and now is standing shoulder to shoulder with our friends in the reconstruction of Nepal.”

Out of Government of India’s commitment to build 50,000 houses in Gorkha and Nuwakot districts, 45,000 houses have already been completed.

The Nepal PM KP Sharma Oli thanked India for its efforts. The Rs 140 crore project will improve trade and people-to-people contact.

Delhi witnessed foggy morning 

Air Quality panel directs enforcement of dust control measures in Delhi-NCR
File photo

New Delhi (NVI): Delhi was blanketed with fog this morning even as the minimum temperature rose to 9.2 degrees Celsius from 8.3 degree Celsius recorded yesterday.

The maximum temperature today is expected to be around 17.0 degree Celsius, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The weatherman has stated that light rain is expected due to fresh western disturbance affecting the northwest region of the country.

Meanwhile, the overall air quality in the national capital today deteriorate again to“very poor”from “poor” category.

According to System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR),the Air Quality Index (AQI) in the national capital stood at  322 which falls in the  “very poor” category.

The worst affected areas are Dhirpur, Delhi University, Chandni Chowk, Pusa, Lodhi Road, Mathura Road, IGI Terminal 3 and the neighbouring Noida.

PM Modi interacts with students

New Delhi (NVI): In an interaction with students at Talkatora Stadium in Delhi today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi answered their questions and shared tips on how to manage stress during exams. The third edition of ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha’ comes ahead of the board exams and other entrance exams.

During his interaction, the PM talked about ISRO’s Chandrayaan mission, cricket, and technology as sources of motivation for the students. Reaching out to students, he said his conversations with them would be ‘#withoutfilter’. “Speak to me hashtag without filter,” he said.

The prime minister also recalled his visit to ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) during the launch of Chandrayaan mission and the time he spent with hardworking scientists.

He also said that students should not be afraid of failure and take it as a part of life.

Ceremonial welcome to Su-30MKI at AFS Thanjavur

Su-30MKI fighter plane being accorded grand ceremonial welcome as its Squadron was inducted at AFS Thanjavur today.

Su-30MKI with Brahmos missile will be stationed here.

J&K DGP blames Pak for radicalisation among youth in Valley

Mubashir Bukhari

Srinagar (NVI): Jammu and Kashmir DGP Dilbag Singh today held “Pakistan and its agencies” responsible for spreading radicalisation among youth in the Valley.

Addressing a press conference here in Srinagar, the DGP said that if de-radicalisation camps are setup in country it will help youth who have gone astray.

He also welcomed Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat recent statement in which he had claimed that there were de-radicalisation camps operating in the country.

“If any such facility comes up in Kashmir it will be a good sign. It will definitely help people, especially those who have gone astray,” the DGP said.

“Whenever we catch some people at our level they don’t seem to be talking much sense at times and therefore, if some sensible kind of arrangement is made where good people from the civil society and experts are gathered together, who deal with this subject and relevant aspects of religion and other things, it willl be a good development. These kind of things should be welcomed, the J&K top cop said.

On terror outfits operating in the Valley, DGP Singh said that Hizbul Mujahideen is on the verge of being completely wiped out in south Kashmir.

While referring to an encounter in south Kashmir today, the DGP said three militants including Hizbul Mujahideen commander Wasim Ahmed Wani, were neutralised in Shopian district.  The second militant was Adil Sheikh and the third was identified as Jahangir.

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